Until recently, Peter Makuck was someone who I only
knew in
print. Working for the Tar
River Poetry
magazine, I had encountered quite a few of his poems and reviews as we
laid out
each issue, but I was never able to meet the man who had left such a
profound
impact on the lives of those in the Greenville area. This all changed
on April
27th. Armed with his newly published book of poetry Long Lens: New and Selected Poems,
Peter
Makuck walked into Bate 1023 as more than a name on paper. His impact
on the
room was immediately noticeable. Old friends, fellow teachers, and
colleagues
galore came out of the woodwork Tuesday night to see the beloved poet
return to
his old stomping ground. Peter read a
number of old and new poems for the audience throughout the night, and
one poem
in particular, "Prey" really made me smile. I asked Peter if I might
reprint the poem
in The Common Reader for all to
enjoy. His reply was a resounding "Yes!"

Prey
Coming
from the pool where
I've just done laps, letting water bring me back, I'm
already elsewhere, thinking about
Tennyson and my two o'clock class when
a squirrel appears ten
feet from the concrete walk, by an oak. Then
a loud ruffle at my shoulder, like
an umbrella unfurled, before a flash glide makes
the Redtail seem to emerge from me and
nail the squirrel with a clatter of wings— a
long scream that strips varnish from my heart
before
the sound goes limp. She
presides with mantling wings over
the last twitches of gray as I edge
closer to her golden eye. She
hackles her head feathers, tightens her talons, holds
me prey to what I see, watches me as
she lifts off, rowing hard for height, the squirrel drooped
in her clutch.
Now
skimming a lake of
cartops in the south lot, making for the break between
Wendy’s and Kinko's, she swerves up sharply
to land on the roofpeak of a frat house over
on Tenth. Some
noise from the world snaps me back. I
look about, but nobody has stopped to
look at me or where she stood by the tree, only
ten feet away. Slowly released, I
move ahead with the passing student crowd, holding
fast to what I have seen. After
it was all over, I shuffled over to meet the man who I had heard so
much about
during my years as a Pirate. Getting through to him took a bit of
digging as
those in the room had crowded around for their own piece of the Makuck
pie.
Eventually, I was able to get my time with Peter. "I'd love to
interview you
for TCR," I said. He
replied with a smile and said "of course." Exchanging information,
Peter and I
set forth on what has been one of my most enjoyable cyber conversations
yet to
date. A few rounds of correspondence later, and it was all finished.
Without
further ado, here is my slice of the Makuck pie.